Congress continues Emergency Unemployment Compensation and extended benefits
December 23, 2011
As of December 23, Congress and the President authorized a two-month extension of emergency unemployment compensation (EUC) benefits and extended benefits.
Unemployed workers who have been claiming these benefits may continue to submit weekly claims until they run out of benefits or until the programs expire, whichever comes first.
Here’s background on these programs and their new phase-out dates.
Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC)
The federal EUC benefits that have been available since July 2008, thanks to a series of votes by Congress to continue them. Under the latest extension, the important dates to keep in mind are as follows:- February 25, 2012 ~ If you run out of “regular” unemployment benefits no later than Feb. 25, you may be eligible to advance to EUC tier 1 (which pays up to 20 weeks of benefits). You need to apply for EUC before March 3.
- March 3, 2012 ~ If you establish an EUC claim (in tiers 1, 2 or 3) by this date, you may continue to receive benefits through the end of your existing tier, but may not advance to the next tier. For example: If you are in week 10 of EUC tier 1 as of March 3, you may have up to 10 additional weeks of benefits remaining, depending on the total amount of your EUC benefit.
